Monday Break

House Groups & other activities

Various new House Groups are developing at present, including a Home Group, a Prayer Group and a Church in the Pub.

For further information about these groups or other activities or pastoral care, please contact James Shakespeare – 01858 469109.’

Sunday Club

Sunday club is for children between the ages of 3 and 11 and takes place in the Church Hall, during term time, on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays in the month (10.30 – 11.30am). Children learn about Christian faith in a fun way using games, videos, songs and craft.
Contact: Margaret Powell – 01858 434282

Pathfinders

This is a Christian club for 10-13 year olds. It is held on Monday evenings (6.30-8.00pm) in the Church Hall.
Activities include games, challenges, hikes, treasure hunts, outings, cinema visits and craft nights and through these children learn more about themselves, each other and God.
There are opportunities to attend a national Pathfinder camp each year.
Contact: Helen Trotter – 01858 433850

Great Bowden Academy, C of E Primary School Monthly Assemblies

These are held in the church on the 1st Friday of each month (9.30am).
The children take turns in leading the acts of worship, sharing their art work, poems and prayers.
All are welcome to share in worship with them.

Children's Church

Children’s Church is child-friendly worship with a relaxed feel and includes songs, prayers, crafts, interactive games or discussion, coffee and chat. They take place on the 5th Sunday of the month whenever this occurs.

Family Service

All-age worship takes place in church on the 1st Sunday of the month (10.30am). Families and friends of all ages are welcome to join with us for worship through word and song. The service is followed by coffee and a chat.

Family Communion

This takes place on the 3rd Sunday of the month (10.30am) and Sunday Club join the adults for the second half of the service. Through word and music we celebrate the Good News of Jesus Christ and all are welcomed to take Communion or receive a blessing. There are opportunities for children to learn more about the celebration of Holy Communion through our ABC course.

Great Bowden formally welcomes a new team vicar, the Revd. James Shakespeare, at a special service at St Peter and St Paul, Great Bowden, on 9th November 2011 at 7.30pm. The service is being led by the Assistant Bishop of Leicester, the Rt. Revd. Christopher Boyle. It will be attended by representatives of Harborough District Council, Great Bowden Parish Council, Church of England Primary School and Harborough Churches Together. Great Bowden is part of the Harborough Anglican Team, led by the Revd. Richard Brand, who will be present. Revd. James Shakespeare succeeds the Revd. Jonnie Parkin, who moved to take up a new post in Lincoln in April 2011.

In preparation for his new ministry, Revd. Shakespeare will be making a pilgrimage on foot from St Wilfrid’s Church, Kibworth to St Peter and St Paul, Great Bowden and on to the ruined Anglo-Saxon Minister Church of St Mary in Arden, Market Harborough. In this he will be joined by local church folk as well as members of the local Heritage Group. “The idea for this historic pilgrimage came from Michael Wood’s popular Kibworth-based BBC series, ‘The Story of England’. The series uncovered the ancient pilgrimage Whit-walk from Kibworth to St Mary in Arden, via Foxton and St Peter and St Paul, Great Bowden. St Mary in Arden was then a significant Minister Church, the mother Church of the Bowdens. It had a Shrine to the Virgin Mary, and was a spiritual centre for local villages, whose pilgrims came to collect holy chrism oil. Records dating back to 1264 refer to this happening. The walk was re-enacted by the Great Bowden Heritage & Archaeology Group on 11th June.”

Revd. Shakespeare continues, “As well as an opportunity for spiritual preparation, I want to highlight the relevance of local history to the Church’s ministry of meeting people’s spiritual needs today.” “People these days are increasingly drawn to pilgrimage, as a way of connecting with what really matters in life. Christians, like those of others faiths, have a long history of pilgrimage to draw on.”

For some years, Revd. Shakespeare has been drawn to pilgrimage. He has made regular pilgrimages on foot, including to Lincoln with parishioners from his last parish in Birstall, along the St. Cuthbert’s Way to Lindisfarne, in the steps of St Cuthbert, and he recently completed the Leicestershire Round – one of Leicestershire’s best loved walks. He is glad to discover the historic significance of Christian pilgrimage in the local Harborough area.

Prior to his appointment at Great Bowden, Revd. Shakespeare was Associate Priest in the Harborough Anglican Team and Co-ordinator of Market Harborough Street Pastors. He remains an active Street Pastor. His other roles have included being Policy Adviser & Chaplain to the Bishop of Leicester and Rector of Birstall and Wanlip. Shakespeare also leads regular Quiet Days at Launde Abbey, Retreat Centre of the Diocese of Leicester. Revd. Shakespeare commented: “It is good to be coming to minister at Great Bowden, within the Harborough Anglican Team, and to be continuing as a Street Pastor. I look forward to serving the local community. I strongly believe that our ancient parish churches will continue to be places of spirituality, wisdom & transformed human relationships, in a society so much in need of fresh vision.”